Information regarding the disinvestment of the Kanishka Hotel - English version of the agreement provided - information is not to be translated into another language but should be provided as it is available - not expect the PIO to translate it for him
9 Aug, 2013Order
1. Though the Appellant had not mentioned the name of any particular addressee in his RTI application, it seems he had sent the application to the Ministry of Tourism. The CPIO of that Ministry had transferred the RTI application to the ITDC. The ITDC responded to the Appellant with the observation that they did not have any information regarding the disinvestment of the Kanishka Hotel. The Appellant had preferred an appeal against this response but it appears the Appellate Authority had not passed any order.
2. The Appellant submitted that he had sent his application to the Ministry of Tourism under the impression that the Ministry along with the Department of Disinvestment had carried out the disinvestment of this particular hotel. In his opinion, his application should not have been transferred to the ITDC and the Ministry should have provided the copy of the agreement duly translated in Hindi. He also admitted that he had been already provided the English version of the agreement.
3. We have carefully considered the facts of the case. The information to be provided under the Right to Information (RTI) Act is not to be translated into another language but should be provided as it is available. For example, if any particular record is available in Greek or Latin or Tamil or Telugu, it has to be provided as such and not to be provided in a translated version. Therefore, the Appellant should get the agreement provided to him in English translated into Hindi on his own and not expect the CPIO of either the Ministry of Tourism or the ITDC to translate it for him. There is no further information to be given in the case. The appeal is disposed of accordingly.
(Satyananda Mishra)
Chief Information Commissioner
Citation: Dr. DVS Sehra/Om Prakash v. India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd. in File No.CIC/SM/A/2012/001738